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For centuries, Theravada's arahant ideal and Mahayana's bodhisattva ideal have served as lightning rods of contention between these two schools of Buddhism. In fact, the author argues, a healthy and integrated Buddhist practice requires respect of both ideals.

More Dhamma talks from the evening meditation sessions at Metta Forest Monastery. This book is highly recommended.

The Buddha's second Noble Truth states that the cause of suffering is any kind of craving that stimulates becoming (bhava; the process by which we continually fabricate new states of mind, from moment to moment and lifetime to lifetime). Yet this Noble Truth also states that the desire for non-becoming is one of the three basic forms of craving. Thus the paradox: How can we attain the end of suffering if the desire to end it is itself a cause of suffering? In this book the author explores the Buddha's own resolution of this paradox: how, through the practice of jhāna, we can create a unique state of becoming whereby the mind does not add further fuel to its desires. Eventually, this intentionally fabricated state of becoming itself comes to an end, providing the long-sought opening to the Deathless. [Not available in HTML] paradoxofbecoming.pdf (136pp./0.6MB)

In this important sutta, the first in the Tipitaka, the Buddha describes sixty-two philosophical and speculative views concerning the self and the world that were prevalent among spiritual seekers of his day. In rejecting these teachings — many of which thrive to this day — he decisively establishes the parameters of his own.